Q. What is strategic management?

Discuss the different tasks of

strategic management process.
Ans:
*The concept of strategic management was originally developed in military
administration. It has become popular in the business world.
*As in war, rapid changes and its accompanying uncertainty are common in business
organizations. Uncertainty in business environment has thrown the organizations to
great challenges.
*Changes are taking place in the environment. Most changes are unpredictable.
*Changes are continually occurring in demographics, economic conditions, trade
practices (due to deregulation, liberalization), diversity of workers, technology and
globalization trends
*Initially, the concept of long-range planning was used in a few large companies in the
USA. The concept of strategic management got worldwide attention in 1990s;
*Thus, managers involve themselves in strategic management process. It is applicable
to private, public and non-profit organizations.
*The term strategic management refers to the managerial process of forming a
strategic vision, setting objectives, crafting a strategy, implementing and executing
the strategy and then over time initiating whatever corrective adjustments in the
vision, objectives, strategy, and execution are deemed appropriate.
*Thus, it is the process through which managers undertake efforts to ensure longterm adaptation of their organization to its environment.

Discuss the different tasks of strategic management process are given

belowFive Task of Strategic Management
1. Developing a strategic vision and business mission;
2. Setting objectives;
3. Creating a strategy to achieve the objectives;
4. Implementing and Executing the Strategy;
5. Evaluating Performance, Monitoring New Developments and Initiating Corrective Adjustments.
The Strategy-Making, Strategy-Executing Process

1. Developing a strategic vision and business mission (Phase-1)

Company summarizes their objectives in mission and vision statement;
A strategic vision reflects management aspirations for the organization and its
business, providing a panoramic view of where we are going and giving
specific about its future business plan;
It spells out long-term business purpose and molds organizational identity;
It points an organization in a particular direction and charts a strategic path for
it to follow;
A companys mission statement describes/conveys its present business scope
who we are, what we do and why we are here;
It acts as a guide to decision making for all levels of management;
In short, a vision statement describes what a company wants to be in the future
and it lists where the company sees itself some years from now. On the other
hand mission describes what a company wants now and it lists the broad goals
for which company is formed.
Vision: To be world class Real Estate Developer creating maximum value by providing
quality homes and business.
Mission: To build and develop environment friendly apartments, commercial buildings
& land projects using the highest standards of safety, architecture, engineering and
green technology.

2. Setting objectives (Phase-2)

Objectives are an organizations performance targetsthe results and outcomes
it wants to achieve;
They function as yardsticks for tracking an organizations performance and
progress;
Every unit in a company needs concrete, measurable performance targets that
contribute towards achieving company objectives;

A well formulated objective must be SMART, where S stands for specific, M for
measurable, A for achievable or appropriate, R for realistic, and T for timebound.

Objectives of Eastern Housing Limited Using SMART Tool

To identify the potential customers by next 5 years;
To enhance the organizational capacity and strength by 2016;
To estimate the number of projects to be handed over within 2017;

 To create awareness among the customers to invest in the projects.

Objectives are broken down into targets for which unit and lower-level
managers are held accountable for achieving them;
The need for both good financial performance and good strategic performance
calls for management to set financial objectives and strategic objectives;
Financial objectives relate to the financial performance
management wants the organization to achieve and;

targets

that

Strategic objectives relate outcomes that strengthen an organization, overall

business positions and competitive vitality (energy).
Short-term objectives
Targets to be achieved soon;
Milestones or stair steps for reaching long-range performance;
Long-term objectives
Targets to be achieved within
3 to 5 years;
Prompt actions now that will
permit reaching targeted
long-range performance later.

3. Creating a strategy to achieve the objectives (Phase-3)

A companys strategy consists of the combination of competitive moves and
business approaches that managers employ to please customers complete
successfully and achieve organizational objectives;
It is considered as a long-term plan that relates the strategic advantages of an
organization to the challenges of the environment;
Strategy making brings into play the critical managerial issue of how to achieve
the targeted results in light of the organizations situation and prospects;
Objectives are the ends and strategy is the means of achieving them.

4. Implementing and Executing Strategy (Phase-4)

Action-oriented, operations-driven activity aimed at shaping performance of
core business activities in a strategy-supportive manner
Tougher and more time-consumingthan crafting strategy
Key tasks include improving efficiency of the strategy being executed and
showing measurable progress in achieving targeted results.

5. Evaluating Performance and Making Corrective Adjustments(Phase5)

Tasks of crafting and implementing the strategy are not a one-time exercise
Customer needs and competitive conditions change
New opportunities appear; technology
advances; any number of other
outside developments occur
One or more aspects of executing the
strategy may not be going well
New managers with different ideas take over
Organizational learning occurs
All these trigger the need for corrective actions and adjustments on an asneeded basis

Q. What is companys external environment? Explain how a

company can analyze the competitive pressures and strength of
its external forces.
Ans: All relevant forces outsides a companys boundaries called External
Environment.

a. How value chain analysis can help a firm? Explain the company
value chain and value chain for an entire industry with figures.
Ans: Value chain analysis can help organisations to gain better understanding of key
capabilities and identify areas for improvement. It can help them to understand how competitors
create value; and help organisations to decide whether to extend or outsource particular
activities.
A companys value chain consists of a linked set of value-creating activities
performed internally. It cannot be used to identify external opportunities and
threats;
It teaches that how competently a company manages its value chain activities
relative to rivals is a key to building valuable competencies and competitive
capabilities and then leveraging them into sustainable competitive advantage.
The value chain contains two types of activities
Primary activities where most of the value for customers is created;

 Support activities facilitate performance of the primary activities.

The primary activities are involved with the physical creation of a product, its
distribution, marketing, and the after-sales related service to the product. On the
other hand, the support activities are necessary for supporting the primary
activities

Representative Company Value Chain

Fig. 4.4: Representative

Value Chain for an
Entire Industry

a. Explain the strategies that are initiated in diversified enterprises.

Ans:
Levels of Strategy-Making
in a Diversified Company

Business
-Level
Manager
s

 Corporate Strategy is the overall managerial game plan for a

diversified company. Corporate strategy consists of the moves
made to establish business portions in different industries and
approaches used to manage the companys group of businesses.
Business strategy refers to the managerial game plan for single
business. It is mirrored in the pattern of approaches and moves
crafted by management to produce successful performance in one
specific line of business. For a single business company, corporate
strategy and business strategy are one and the same.
Functional strategy refers to the managerial game plan for a
particular functional activity, business process, or key department
within a business. A companys marketing strategy, for example,
represents the managerial game for running the marketing part of
business. A company needs a functional strategy for every major
business activity and organizational unit.
Operating Strategy concerns the even narrower strategic initiatives
and approaches for managing key operating units (plants,
distribution centers) and handling daily operating tasks. Operating
level strategies

Q. What is the purpose of strategy making? Please mention four

strategic issues that stand in the way of companys success in the
years ahead.
Ans: the purpose of strategy making for Positioning the company to be

different from competitors: either by performing different activities or else by

performing similar activities differently. Strategy tells you what not to do so that
you can prioritize effort to set your product or organization apart. A god strategy
must contain ways to deal with all the strategic issue that stand in the way of
companys financial and competitive success in the years ahead.

Identifying the Strategic Issues

How to stave off market challenges from new foreign competitors?
How to combat price discounting of rivals?
How to reduce a companys high costs?

 How to sustain a companys present growth in light of slowing

buyer demand?

b. What is low-cost provider strategy? Explain the reasons for the

failure of the low-cost strategy.
Ans: Low-cost provider strategies: A companys strategy of selling its
products at a price lower than its competitors is known as low cost strategy;

The reasons for the failure of the low-cost strategy are:

It may invite aggressive cutting by competitors. It may lead to price-war that
may lead to lower profitability;
Cost advantages may not sustain if competitors can easily imitate the
strategy. When competitors are able to copy the cost advantages, low cost
strategy will fail;
If the low-cost product does not contain enough attributes to be attractive to
prospective buyers, the strategy may fail. Low price is not always appealing
to buyers;
Attractiveness may be lost if the product is featured-poor or quality
deficient;
Cost saving technological breakthroughs by the competitors or the
emergence of lower cost value chain models can nullify a low cost strategy.
c. Why is company situation analysis necessary? Name the questions
mentioned by Thompson and Strickland that are considered in
performing company situation analysis.
Ans:
Companys situation analysis prepares the groundwork for
matching the companys strategy both to its external market
circumstances and to its internal resources and competitive
capabilities.
There are 5 questions are considered in performing company
situation analysis:
How well is the present strategy working?
What are the companys resource strengths and weaknesses and its
external opportunities and threats?

 Are the companys prices and costs competitive?

How strong is the companys competitive position? and
What strategic issues does the company face?

Q: What is Differentiation Strategy? Name the common pitfalls and

mistakes done in pursuing differentiation.
Ans: Differentiation Strategies: Differentiation strategies seek to produce a competitive edge
by incorporating attributes and features into a companys product/service offering that rivals
dont have. Anything a firm can do to create buyer value represents a potential basis for
differentiation.

If buyers see little value in unique attributes or capabilities a company

stresses, then its differentiation strategy will get a ho-hum market reception.
Common pitfalls and mistakes in pursuing differentiation include:
Trying to differentiate on the basis of something that does not lower a buyers cost or
enhance a buyers well-being, as perceived by the buyer;
Over-differentiating so that price is too high relative to competitors or that product quality or
service levels exceed buyers needs;
Trying to charge too high a price premium (the bigger the price differential the harder it is to
keep buyers from switching to lower priced competitors;
Ignoring the need to signal value and depending only on intrinsic products attributes to
achieve differentiation;
Not understanding or identifying what buyers consider as value.

Q: What is SWOT analysis? Explain the steps in SWOT analysis.

Ans: A SWOT analysis provides an overall view of a firms situation and
is an essential component of crafting a strategy tightly matched to the
companys situation;
It prepares the groundwork for matching the firms strategy both to
the external market circumstances and its internal resources and
competitive capabilities;
S W O T represents the first letter in

 S trengths
W eaknesses
O pportunities
T hreats
A companys resource strengths, competencies, and competitive
capabilities are important because they are the most logical and
appealing building blocks for strategy;
Resource weaknesses are important
vulnerabilities that need correction;

they

may

represent

For a companys strategy to be well-conceived, it must be:

Matched to its resource strengths and weaknesses
Aimed at capturing its best market opportunities and erecting
defenses against external threats to its well-being.
The Three Steps of SWOT Analysis

Q: How focused low cost strategy differs from focused differentiation

strategy?
Ans:

Focused low-cost strategy: It is the strategy of entering into a niche market at low cost with
a unique type of product that has a special need among the customers in the niche market.
This strategy is targeted to those buyers who desire to have unique products at a low-cost. A
company may adopts this strategy to serve a buyer-segment whose needs can be satisfied with
less cost compared to the rest of the market.

Focused differentiation strategy: It is the strategy operating the business with a

differentiated product in a chosen niche market. When a company pursues such strategy, it
concentrates on a narrow buyer-segment and offer customized attributes in products better
than competitors products. Here the focuser company completes against competitors not based
on low-cost, rather based on product differentiation. Since, the focuser company has
knowledge about the needs of niche customer-groups; it can successfully differentiate its
products. For example, Alam Soap Company, producer of EK Number Pacha Saban, competes
against other soap producers in the laundry bar soap segment of the soap market, not in the
perfume-soap or liquid-soap markets. Its strategy is focused differentiation strategy.

Q: What are the factors that shape a companys strategy? Discuss the
strategies which are initiated at different levels in a diversified
company?
Ans: . The Factors that Shape a Companys Strategy: Many situational considerations
enter into crafting strategy. Very few strategies choices are made in the same context. Even in
same industry, situational factors differ enough from company to company that the strategies of
rivals turn out to be quite distinguishable from one another rather than imitative. This why
carefully sizing up all the various situational factors, both external and internal, is the starting
point in crafting strategy. Following are the primary factors that shape a companys strategic
approaches:
Strategy Shaping Factors External to the Company
Economic, societal, political, regulatory and community factors;
Competitive conditions and overall industry attractiveness;
Companys opportunities and threats to companys well being;
Strategy Shaping factors Internal to the Company
Company strengths, weaknesses, competencies and competitive capabilities;
Managers personal ambitions, business philosophies, and ethics;
Shared values and companys culture.
Strategy is shaped by both external and internal considerations. A good strategy must be well
matched to all these situational considerations. Economic, societal, political, regulatory and
community citizenship factors limit the strategies actions a company can or should take. Every

strategic action a company takes should be ethical. The company has ethical duties to owners,
employees, customers, suppliers, the communities where it operate, and the public at large.

the strategies which are initiated at different levels in a diversified

company:

Corporate Strategy: It is the overall managerial game plan for a diversified company.
Corporate strategy consists of the moves made to establish business portions in different
industries and approaches used to manage the companys group of businesses. Corporate
strategy is crafted at the highest levels of management.

Business Strategy: Business strategy refers to the managerial game plan for single
business. It is mirrored in the pattern of approaches and moves crafted by management to
produce successful performance in one specific line of business. For a single business
company, corporate strategy and business strategy are one and the same. Lead
responsibility for business strategy falls in the lapof whoever is in charge of the business.

Functional strategy: It refers to the managerial game plan for a particular functional
activity, business process, or key department within a business. A companys marketing
strategy, for example, represents the managerial game for running the marketing part of
business. A company needs a functional strategy for every major business activity and
organizational unit. Lead responsibility for conceiving strategies for each important
business functions and process is normally delegated to the respective functional
department heads and process managers.

Operating Strategy: It concerns the even narrower strategic initiatives and approaches
for managing key operating units (plants, distribution centers) and handling daily
operating tasks. Operating level strategies provide valuable support to higher-level
strategies. Lead responsibility for operating strategy is usually delegated to front-line
managers, subject to review and approval by higher-ranking managers.

Q: Explain the value chain of a firm as an analytical tool of strategic cost

analysis. Why a firm should use value chain technique for situation
analysis?
Ans:
Q: What is competitive strategy? Discuss the generic competitive
strategies used to achieve or defend competitive advantage of a
company.
Ans: Competitive strategy:It consists of the business approaches and initiatives undertaken
by a company to attract customers and to deliver superior value to them through fulfilling their
expectations as well as to strengthen its market position. It aims at gaining competitive
advantage in the market place against the competitors.
How a company can achieve or defend competitive advantage through the strategy it employs
and its management of the value chain is discussed below.

Five distinct competitive strategies approaches are:

1. Low-cost provider strategies: appealing to a broad spectrum of customers based on being
the overall low-cost provider of product or service;
2. Differentiation strategies: seeking to differentiate the companys product offering from
rivals in ways that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers;
3. Best-cost provider strategies: giving customers more value for the money by incorporating
good-to-excellent product attributes at a lower cost than rivals; the target to have the lowest
(best) costs and prices compared to rivals offering products with comparable upscale
attributes;
4. Focused (or market niche) strategies based on lower cost: concentrating on a narrow
buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by serving niche members at a lower cost than rivals;
5. Focused (or market niche) strategies based on differentiation: concentrating on a narrow
buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by offering niche members customized attributes
that meet their tastes and requirements better than rivals product;

Competitive strategy: It consists of the business approaches and initiatives undertaken by a

company to attract customers and to deliver superior value to them through fulfilling their
expectations as well as to strengthen its market position. It aims at gaining competitive
advantage in the market place against the competitors.
A successful differentiation strategy must entail creating customer value in ways unmatched by
rivals; the hard thing is to figure out how to create unique attributes that buyers will consider
valuable. Any of the four approaches can be used to achieve differentiation in a companys products:
To incorporate product attributes and users features that lower the buyers overall costs of
using companys product;
To incorporate features that raise the performance a buyer gets out of the product;
To incorporate features that enhance buyer satisfaction in noneconomic or intangible ways;
To deliver value to customers via competitive capabilities that rivals dont have or cant afford
to match.

Q: State the advantages of strategic management in a business

organization.
Ans: State the advantages or benefits of strategic management in a
business organization are given below :
Providing better guidance to the entire organization on the crucial
point of what it is we are trying to do;
Making managers and organizational members more alert to the
winds of change, new opportunity and threatening developments;
Helping to unify the organization;
Creating a more proactive management posture;
Promoting the development of a constantly evolving business
model that will produce sustained bottom-line success for the
enterprise and ;
Providing managers with rationale for evaluating competing budget
requests-a rationale that argues strongly for steering resources
into strategy-supportive, results-producing areas.

Q: What is Driving Forces that tend to change competitive condition in

the industry? Give some examples of most common Driving Forces.
Ans: Environment may be changing because of new developments in the
industry. New developments take place in the industry because important
forces are always driving competitors, customers, suppliers to alter their actions.
These are called the driving forces. They tend to change competitive conditions in
the industry.
The most common driving forces are changes in the long-term industry
growth rate, changes in buyers demographics, product innovation,
technological change, marketing innovation, changes in cost and efficiency,
emerging buyers preference, govt. policy change, entry or exit of major
firms, life-style etc.

Q: Name the questions mentioned by Thompson and Stricklandthat

answers build an understanding of a firms surrounding environment and
form the basis for matching its strategy.
Ans: Name the questions mentioned by Thompson and Stricklandthat
answers build an understanding of a firms surrounding environment and
form the basis for matching its strategy are given below-

 Question 1: What Are the Industrys Dominant Economic Features?

Question 2: What Kinds of Competitive Forces Are Industry Members
Facing?
Question 3: What Factors Are Driving Industry Change and What
Impacts Will They Have?
Question 4: What Market Positions Do Rivals OccupyWho Is Strongly
Positioned and Who Is Not?
Question 5: What Strategic Moves Are Rivals Likely to Make Next?
Question 6: What Are the Key Factors for Future Competitive Success?
Question 7: Does the Outlook for the Industry Present an Attractive
Opportunity?

Q: Explain the steps needed in conducting SWOT analysis in a business

organization.

Ans: Three Steps:

Q: State the situation where the Differentiation Strategies works well.

Ans: Differentiation strategies tend to work best in market circumstances:

Where there are many ways to differentiate the product or service and many buyers perceive
these differences as having value;
Where buyer needs and uses are diversethe more diverse buyers preferences are, the more
room firms have to pursue different approaches to differentiation and thereby avoid outdifferentiate one another on much the same attributes;
Where few rivals firms are following a similar differentiate approach;

Where technological change and product innovation are fast-paced and competition revolves
around rapidly evolving product features (rapid innovation and frequent introductions of next
version products help maintain buyer interest in the product and provide space for
companies to pursue separate differentiating paths).

Q: What is Strategic Group in an industry? Why Strategic Group Mapping

technique is used by a company?
Ans: The companies in the same group are found to follow the same basic strategy and some
follow a strategy different from the other companies in other groups. These groups are called
Strategic Group.

Strategic Group Mapping technique is used by a company cause Strategic group

mapping endeavors to determine the strategic group for a product of company. Companies is an
industry often differ with respect to several factors such as distribution channels, market
segments, quality of products, pricing policy, customers service etc. these differences lead to
different groups consisting of limited number of companies in the same industry.

Q: Define core competence of a company? Please put some examples of

core competence of a business organization.
Ans: A core competence is a well-performed internal activity central (not
peripheral or incidental) to a companys competitiveness and
profitability
Company competencies are normally bundles of skills, know-how,
resources, and technologyas opposed to a single discrete skill or
resource or technology. Examples of competencies include:
skill in merchandising and product display,
expertise in a specific-technology,
proven ability to select good location for retail outlets,
skills in working with customers on new applications, and use of
products etc.
Some examples of core competences are:

expertise in building networks and systems that enable ecommerce,

speeding new or next generation product to the market,

 skills in manufacturing high quality product,

innovativeness in developing popular product features,
agility in responding
competitive conditions,

to

new

market

trends

and

changing

expertise in integrating multiple technologies to create families of

new products etc.
A core competence gives a company competitive capability and
thus qualifies as a genuine company strength and resource .
Q: State the issues that are considered in appraising companys
competitive position.
Ans: the issues that are considered in appraising companys competitive
position are
How to stave off market challenges from new foreign competitors?
How to combat price discounting of rivals?
How to reduce a companys high costs?
How to sustain a companys present growth in light of slowing
buyer demand?
Whether to expand a companys product line?
Whether to acquire a rival firm?
Whether to expand into foreign markets rapidly or cautiously?
What to do about aging demographics of a companys customer
base?

Q: Explain Michael PotersFive Forces Modelused for an industrys

competition analysis? Why is such analysis important?
Ans: Strategic Implications of theFive Competitive Forces
Competitive environment is unattractive fromthe standpoint of
earning good profits when
Rivalry is vigorous

 Entry barriers are low

and entry is likely
Competition from
substitutes is strong
Suppliers and customers have
considerable bargaining power
The Five Forces Model of Competition

Q: Why is it necessary to undertake SOWT analysis in the business

organization? Discuss the issues considered in SWOT analysis.
Ans:

Q: What is focus strategy? Discuss the different types of focus

strategy and state risks involve in focus strategy.
Ans:
Focused (or market niche) Strategies: The competitive advantage of focusing is earned either by
achieving lower-costs in serving the target market niche or by developing an ability to offer niche
buyers something different from rival competitors--in other words, it is either cost-based or
differentiation based. Focus strategy concerns itself with the identification of a niche-market and
launching a unique product or service in that market.

different types of focus strategy:

: A company can pursue strategy either with a

low-cost approach, or a differentiation approach. There are two types of focus strategy:

 Focused low-cost strategy: It is the strategy of entering into a niche market at low cost with a
unique type of product that has a special need among the customers in the niche market. This
strategy is targeted to those buyers who desire to have unique products at a low-cost. A
company may adopts this strategy to serve a buyer-segment whose needs can be satisfied with
less cost compared to the rest of the market.
Focused differentiation strategy: It is the strategy operating the business with a
differentiated product in a chosen niche market. When a company pursues such strategy, it
concentrates on a narrow buyer-segment and offer customized attributes in products better
than competitors products. Here the focuser company completes against competitors not based
on low-cost, rather based on product differentiation. Since, the focuser company has
knowledge about the needs of niche customer-groups; it can successfully differentiate its
products. For example, Alam Soap Company, producer of EK Number Pacha Saban, competes
against other soap producers in the laundry bar soap segment of the soap market, not in the
perfume-soap or liquid-soap markets. Its strategy is focused differentiation strategy.

risks involve in focus strategy:

There are some risks of focus strategy which

are:
Competitors find effective ways to match a focusers capabilities in serving niche;
Niche buyers preferences shift towards product attributes desired by majority of
buyers niche becomes part of overall market;
Segment becomes so attractive it becomes crowded with rivals, causing segment
profits to be splintered.

Q: What is macro-environment of a business organization? Show

the macro-environment of an organization in figure.
Ans:

The macro-environment includes all relevant forces outsides a companys boundaries.

While many forces in the macro-environment are beyond a companys sphere of influence,
company managements are nonetheless obliged to monitor them and adapt the company
strategy as may be needed

Q: Name the seven questions mentioned by Thompson and

Strickland that build understanding of a firms surrounding
environment and form the basis for matching its strategy.
Ans:
Question 1: What Are the Industrys Dominant Economic Features?
Question 2: What Kinds of Competitive Forces Are Industry Members
Facing?
Question 3: What Factors Are Driving Industry Change and What
Impacts Will They Have?
Question 4: What Market Positions Do Rivals OccupyWho Is Strongly
Positioned and Who Is Not?
Question 5: What Strategic Moves Are Rivals Likely to Make Next?
Question 6: What Are the Key Factors for Future Competitive Success?
Question 7: Does the Outlook for the Industry Present an Attractive
Opportunity?

Q: State the approaches applied to achieve differentiation in a

companys products.
Ans: four approaches can be used to achieve differentiation in a companys
products:

To incorporate product attributes and users features that lower the buyers
overall costs of using companys product;

To incorporate features that raise the performance a buyer gets out of the
product;

 To incorporate features that enhance buyer satisfaction in noneconomic or

intangible ways;

To deliver value to customers via competitive capabilities that rivals dont have
or cant afford to match.

Q: Name the five questions mentioned by Thompson and Strickland

that are considered in performing company situation analysis.
Ans:
There are 5 questions are considered in performing company
situation analysis:
How well is the present strategy working?
What are the companys resource strengths and weaknesses and its
external opportunities and threats?
Are the companys prices and costs competitive?
How strong is the companys competitive position? and
What strategic issues does the company face?

Q: Explain the value chain analysis as a technique for situation

analysis.
Ans:
Q: State the situations where the Low Cost Provider Strategy works
well.
Ans:

When a low cost provider strategy works well : A strategy of trying to be the low-cost

provider works well in situations where:

The industrys product is essentially the same from seller to seller (brand differences are
minor).
Many buyers are price-sensitive and shop for the lowest price.

There are only a few ways to achieve product differentiation that have much value to buyers.
Most buyers use the product in the same ways and thus have common user requirements.

Buyers costs in switching from one seller or brand to another are low or even zero.
Buyers are large and have significant power to negotiate pricing terms.

What is core competence? Put four examples of core

competence.
Q:

Ans :

A core competence is a well-performed

internal activity central (not peripheral or incidental)

to a companys competitiveness and profitability

. Some examples are

expertise in building networks and systems that enable e-commerce, speeding

new or next generation product to the market,
skills in manufacturing high quality product,
innovativeness in developing popular product features,
agility in responding to new market trends and changing competitive conditions,
expertise in integrating multiple technologies to create families of new products
etc.